Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Earthwork

Monument Types

• ENCLOSURE (ENCLOSURE, Medieval to Modern - 1066 AD? to 1901 AD?)

Full description

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[TQ 9380 5432] Flower fields earthwork. (1) This earthwork, which is roughly square on plan with the north west corner missing, comprises a bank and ditch of feeble profile (maximum height from top of bank to bottom of ditch, about 1.0 metres). Within the enclosed area, there is a small pond, now dry. Under natural conditions the soil, clay with flints, would support woodland and it is probable that the area has always been afforested. Two similar earthworks are situated close by, both in woodland; one is also in Otterden, the other in Payden, Wichling (see TQ 95 SW 8 and 10). It is possible, therefore, that these are minor enclosures connected with pannage. (2) At TQ 9376 5432, in the old established woodland of Otterden Plantation there is a rectilinear earthwork formed by a weak bank and outer ditch and enclosing an area of 47 metres by 65 metres. The bank is mostly 4.5 metres wide and 0.4 metres high, the dry ditch 3 metres wide and 0.2 metres deep, with, in the north west corner, a minor break as if for drainage. The entrance, midway along the north side consists of a simple gap in the bank and a break in the ditch, but with no obvious causeway. A faint scarp demarcating an approach from within the entrance may be of recent origin. In the north west angle of the enclosure there is a sub-rectangular depression 20 metres long and about 8 metres wide, quite distinct although only 0.1 metres to 0.2 metres deep, bounded by a scarp on the south and east sides. There is a 2 metre gap at the north end of the east side beside the main enclosure bank and adjacent to its entrance.This slightly sunken platform could be a building stance. In the centre of the enclosure an elongated pit has been dug with banks of upcast only on the north and south sides. The pit has been dug to a depth of 1.4 metres with a gradual descent from the east and west ends. The pit is approached by an embanked trackway from the south-west, crossing the enclosure bank and denuding it with old traffic ruts. Obviously later than the enclosure and associated with forestry it is uncertain whether the pit was for timber seasoning or a saw pit, but in any case likely to be post medieval. The date and purpose of the enclosure is quite obscure. (3) Historic england archive material: 762217 Otterden Plantation enclosure, TQ 95 SW 12 (1986)/Antiquity Model Antiquity Model: Surveyed

<1> G Whelan (OS Card Reference). SKE43459.

<2> Pte 6" (L R A Grove, Maidstone Mus c1950-4) (OS Card Reference). SKE48870.

<3> F1 ASP 20-AUG-63 (OS Card Reference). SKE42202.

<4> F2 NVQ 21-OCT-86 (OS Card Reference). SKE43358.

<5> Field report for monument TQ 95 SW 12 - August, 1963 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4842.

<6> Field report for monument TQ 95 SW 12 - October, 1986 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4843.

<7> Otterden Plantation, Kent/survey (Graphic material). SKE6367.

Sources and further reading